The Wolf's Call (Two-Natured London) Read Free Page A

missing from her perfect chest was the aura of her beast. The
translucent, full-colour 3D image of her animal protruding out of her like a
figurehead of a ship would have allowed him to see what kind of a shifter she
was from afar, but he wasn’t surprised by its absence. She was a strong shifter
and so able to hide the aura when needed. He had hidden his wolf too; it tended
to dominate everyone.
    Then
again, judging by the onslaught of aftershaves that was clogging his delicate
scent receptors, everyone else in the office was human, so hiding the aura was
unnecessary – not to mention that it was illegal to discriminate against those
with second natures; in theory anyway. However, sometimes the aura’s
independent observations were distracting when one needed to concentrate, so
perhaps she had asked it to retreat.
    It
didn’t matter. Only a couple of steps and he would be close enough to have her
scent, unhindered by the artificial scents and ventilation. She simply had to
be a wolf. It would be a crime if a woman so gorgeous were, say, a panther,
like her dark colours suggested.
    There
was something feline about her though. For a woman so tall she was delicately
built, and very feminine, with only enough muscle tone to prevent her from
looking gangly. Sometimes taller women seemed to lose their curves, which was
why he preferred the short ones. Her features were finely sculpted with refined
cheekbones and a stubborn jaw, a straight nose, and arching black brows over
dark brown eyes. Her cherry-lipped mouth was, in a word, generous. To top it
all, she had a long black hair she had tied neatly in a bun at the back of her
head. He yearned to see it flowing free.
    Then
he was within range of her scent and he drew it in deep, filling himself with
it. She wasn’t wearing any perfume – no shifter would – so he got a lungful of
pure her. Her scent was strong yet delicate like he had known it would be, with
a heady mix of fresh, citrusy scents adding sweetness and sharpness to it. And
she was…
    Human.
    His
disappointment was so profound he couldn’t comprehend what his senses were
telling him. Almost disgusted with her now for causing him such a blow, he
walked past her desk, barely giving her a second glance in his stupor.
    Mr
Latimer, he presumed, as he was unable to pay attention, came to meet him and
he shook his hand mechanically before following him to his office. Only one
thing filled his mind. She could not be human. Gods could not be that cruel.

Chapter Three
    One by one, the lawyers
returned to their tasks after having paused to watch the man cross the room.
All but Charly. She was sitting perfectly still, hoping that no one would
notice how strongly she had been affected by him. She was feigning calm, but
she was squeezing the edge of her desk so hard her knuckles were standing out
in white relief.
    She
hadn’t lost control of her body so completely since childhood, when her rages
had made her disregard her physical safety. Yet with a mere scent that man had
managed to override all her careful restraints, releasing sensations she wasn’t
ready to feel. Couldn’t afford to feel. A bone-melting arousal had glued her to
her chair and she could only helplessly watch him cross the room with a
confident stride, his scent growing stronger and more compelling as he drew
closer.
    She
had known she was sensitive to scents, but never in her life had she been
attracted to a man based on how he smelled. She more tended to be repelled by
the fashionable products men used that had all her girlfriends in a swoon. And
the oddest thing was, he wasn’t using any artificial scent. Her arousal was
triggered by something that was essentially him. How she was able to tell the
difference, she had no idea.
    She
turned the air-cleanser to full blast with the hopes that it would banish any
lingering remnants of him, holding her breath to prevent his scent from
overtaking her body again. But then she remembered what he looked like.